i got a 92 960 wagon with about 273,000 miles on the clock, i just bought it a year ago and have been replacing things here and there and it came due for the timing belt, so i ordered a continental timing belt, water pump, new tensioner and both idler pulleys. the new tensioner has the lock pin already in it keeping it in the fully compressed position, i timed the motor and tried to put the belt on and it wont go on at all, it seems like the belt is too small, the belt that was on it was the same brand and i made sure that the diameter of the new water pump and pulleys are the same. what am i doing wrong? is it the wrong belt? is there some trick to doing this timing belt? oh and i counted the teeth of the new and old belt both were 143 teeth, i have seen on rockauto.com they have choices of 143, 148 and 153 teeth, is it possible i have the wrong belt somehow for the car? i bought everything from autohausaz.com

 

No trick. Is the belt routed according to the diagram? Are the belts the same lengths?

 

yes, it is routed just as the old belt that came off the old and new belts both have 143 lugs, goes from the crank to the passenger side of the idler pulley then to the intake cam, over to the exhaust, under the water pump then over the top of the idler pulley for the tensioner back to the crank, i mean do i have to leave the bolts for the tensioner loose or something? it seems like if the belt had about 1 or 2 more ribs it would fit and the company i got it from only had the choice of the continental and gates timing belts, i got the continental because that was what was in the car, the only difference now is the water pump is not a factory one, and the old one was factory, but the gear size is exactly the same diameter, so im completely lost, im just happy i have another car

 

You seem to have the routing correct. I asked about the length, not teeth numbers. BTW, belts have changed thru the years, later belts are round teeth and wider. That's how partly the interval went from 30k miles to 70k miles.

Stretch old belt by hand and put it next to the new one -- see if there is any difference.

No, you don't need the bolts loose on the tensioner (in fact Volvo calls this Dampener, tensioner is the one dampener pushes against). In fact you need to tighten them before you pull out the pin, as you can't tighten it properly with piston pushing up the tensioner.

Tip of the dampener's piston also should have a plastic washer which will rest against the tensioner (which you call idler, by mistake) when piston is extended.

 

yes the little plastic spacer thingy is there but its the one that came off and i dont know how to get a new one, id really like to get a new one, but when i get a chance to swing back up to the shop on monday ill compare the length of the belts, and yea the sticker on mine says 30K mile change interval but if it is shorter, which im thinking is the case, how do i go about getting the correct belt, can i get one that is slightly wider for a newer model year? from what i saw on rockauto it seems like the cutoff is 1/1994 and if i remember right, i think the new belt has a round edge for the teeth, but i got the continental belt i think its tb217? and when i even called napa they said that is the correct number for this car, but tomorrow after work ill run up to where its torn apart and grab both belts and check the length of them, but is it at all possible that someone changed something in the cam gear or something before i bought it that would make it take a longer, or newer belt design? and sorry for the terminology im not up to speed on what volvo calls everything, im a bmw tech and a big jeep guy also, i just got this because it was a super clean $300 car that needed a battery and brakes, and ive always loved volvo's since i had a 87 240gl wagon as my first car

 

Also, don't try to put the belt fully on the pulleys at first.
Start the belt with 1/4 inch on each pulley and then push the belt on a little bit at a time as you work your way around.
Tensioner (damper) is fully compressed with temporary pin holding the piston.
Ed

 

Just to make sure on the terminology: what you call tensioner, Volvo calls dampener (the one with the pin on the piston).

Tensioner is the one with the roller on, which dampener pushes on against. And there is only one idler -- below the intake cam.

Sure, you can use the old plastic washer. It only insures better contact between dampener and tensioner.

I have not heard of people upgrading to another belt to pro-long the interval. The issue is width. Your interval is 30k, and I would stick to it. These I6 are unforgiving to TB delayed service.

Your correct belt is TB217, which is narrow, yet teeth look round too. 1994's is TB252. For my 1998 belt is TB270.

Thru the years, 960's belts actually got wider = stronger = longer interval.

Putting the belt in -- I think you got the sequence correct too. Start from the crank and go counter-clockwise, and stretch it out, around the route until you get to slack at the tensioner. There should be play in the tensioner (up and down), once it's mounted.

Another important point -- make sure you tighten everything according to spec, including pulley / roller into before you even slap them on the engine. And use quality star-bit sockets, which I am sure you do.

Continental belts are what's recommended in these motors. Aisin dampeners are good too. Hepu Water pumps. Volvo's current pumps suck. Volvo's Idler and Tensioner are made for Volvo by INA in Slovakia.

I like GMB's better, made in Japan.

Besides the belt, due to delayed service, what fails on these motors is the dampener, fluid leaks and belt slackens, and ruins these motors.

 

the way i bought the idler (below the intake cam) was it was already bolted to the triangle shaped bracket and the tensioner pulley came mounted on the bracket or w/e you want to call it, the piece that the dampener pushes against, and yes the tb 217 is the belt that i received but i never had to use any torx bits, but i mean i have the master set from mac tools and they have never failed me yet, i bought high quality because thats all bmw's are put together anymore lol but i didnt get a chance to do to the shop tonight, had to do some work to my jeep, but im gonna try tomorrow and see if i can see anything wrong with it, the company i bought the belt from gave me the length in inches and in mm of what it should be so im going to take it off and measure it up, and then we shall see whats going on, ugh, why do european cars that only i buy have to be so difficult to fix?

 

The roller on the tensioner needs to be torqued, I believe 20 lbs/ft. In my experience they are usually at 8 -10 pounds from the factory. If not, it may whistle or start to wobble soon enough.

Same for the idler pulley (IIRC 30 lbs/ft). Just put a torque wrench thru them before you install them.

I don't know the length of belts in inches. You didn't answer -- does the tensioner move up and down freely when installed?

Dampener is installed last, and pin pulled when everything is good.

Are you also changing out the accessory belt?

 

yes the tensioner moves freely, can move it with one finger, very free on the pivot bolt and the bolt that bolts up the roller, and i installed the dampener first before the tensioner, is that a problem, i mean i didnt pull the pin yet, since i know thats the last thing you do, but i put the dampener on then the idler and the tensioner

 

Not a problem.

You got everything correct, including the belt's part number. Did you check the length of the belts (old and new)?

 

i figured it out!!

ok, ive been sick for the past couple days so i havent been able to tinker with the volvo, but i finally got a chance to go up to the shop today and my buddy had somehow rolled the belt into the pulleys, but was still really tight and he even said it isnt good, so, i took it back off, and called the company that sent me all the parts, they said the dampener and the idler were oem manufacture so i figured that wasnt the problem, so i took the flennor brand tensioner they sent me off and put the old one back on just for the hell of it, and guess what, it fit, perfectly! belt slid right on like a hot knife in butter! so, i took it back off to take a closer look at it and found that the hole drilled into the bracket that attaches the pulley to the bracket was drilled off to the right and up about 2 or 3mm, just enough to make the belt not fit, so word to the wise, dont by a tensioner from flennor, anyways, they're returning it for me no questions asked and paying for return shipping and all, so thats all good but that still leaves me without a new tensioner... so anybody know where i can get a good high quality tensioner other than the volvo dealer here, because i cant even get them to call me back about ordering a key, let alone a tensioner, and i went to advance and they said they would have it by the 2nd, so no matter what its down for another weekend

 

oh and i re-read your post henry, and i know you said that INA makes volvo's oem parts and thats the brand of idler i got but do you have any idea where i can get an INA tensioner?

 

I think I wrote above. FCP Euro has them both: Volvo (INA, made in Slovakia) and GMB (made in Japan). Having played with both, I chose GMB, as a better built unit.

It seems that Volvo parts are no longer what they used to be.

Again, just make sure that you tighten the roller to 18-20 lbs/ft on the tensioner, before you install the tensioner.

 

Volvo Timing Belt Tensioner (960 850) - URO Parts 6842593 | FCP Euro

they offer just the roller for the tensioner, i dont see why i couldnt use this right? i mean, the bracket itself is metal, i dont see the need to change it out, or am i wrong?

 

After the Dampener, this roller is the next item that fails. It freezes up. Some people could not even turn the roller on their tensioners. BTW, tensioner does not need to be replaced everytime the belt is replaced.

If yours is suspect, read on. Another thing that loosens up is the mounting pivot of the Tensioner. It gets too much play. That's where I saw the biggest difference between INA and GMB. GMB is just more solid for my taste.

First, I wouldn't use URO parts on my timing / engine. Secondly, I know it's a big price difference, but I would get a new tensioner if you need to get one. The test is that roller should turn freely, with no grinding and that mounting pivot is not loose.

 

it does move freely with no grinding, but you can see where it looks like the grease is starting to come out of the pulley, and also like i said earlier i just bought the car and its got 273k on it and i want to know everything is new under there so i dont have any problems, its the girlfriends car, and shes the put gas in it check the oil turn the radio on and drive off, i dont want to get the call of "jon, somethings wrong with the car" lol, but when i was on their site last night i saw you can get the whole tensioner but it looked like they only offered it in the INA volvo brand for my 92

Volvo Timing Belt Tensioner (960 850) - INA 6842593 | FCP Euro

 

Check out these OEM Tensioner prices:

eEuroparts - Timing Belt Tensioner Pulley - # 9135036

VOLVO 960 ENGINE TIMING COMPONENTS 1992-1997 at Swedish Auto Parts

TascaParts.com

 

ok i will, i mean im tight on cash at the moment and need to get the car out of my buddys shop so i may just go with the uro parts pulley only for the time being and change out the complete tensioner assembly in 30k when i have to open her back up again, but thank you sooo much for all the help and the awesome parts websites, the fcpeuro has some awesome parts for my moms 89 benz 560sl also which im fixing up for her